About this item
As the Summer of Love comes to an end, 15-year-old Ida Petrovich waits for a father who never comes home. While commercial fishing in Alaska, he is lost at sea, but with no body and no wreckage, Ida and her mother are forced to accept a "presumed" death that tests their already strained relationship. While still in shock over the loss of her father, Ida overhears an adult conversation that shatters everything she thought she knew about him. This prompts her to set out on a search for the truth that takes her from her Washington State hometown to Southeast Alaska, where she works at a salmon cannery, develops love for a Filipino classmate, and befriends a Native Alaskan girl. In this wild, rugged place, she also begins to understand the physical and emotional bonds that took her father north and why he kept them secret -- a journey of discovery that ultimately brings her family together and helps them heal.
About the Author
Pam McGaffin always knew she would write books when she grew up.So, at age 51, after a long career in journalism and public-relations, she quit her day job and went to work. After seven years, countless rewrites, and a seat-of-her-pants course in modern publishing, she is proud to be releasing her debut novel, The Leaving Year, with SparkPress Aug. 14.Pam's short stories have appeared in the online literary journals, Eclectica and Amarillo Bay, and her non-fiction articles have been published in many Puget Sound-area publications and websites, including The Daily Herald (in Everett, WA) , Bicycle Paper, the MS Connection newsletter, and Seattle Children's Story Project.She has a BA degree in Communications Journalism from the University of Washington and certificates in fiction writing and advanced literary fiction from UW Extension.When she isn't writing, she likes to think about writing, read, walk the dog, do sprint-distance triathlons, and devise ways to get her family to eat more colorful food.
